What to Do with John Brown?

Why military history might help us move past old debates

Earlier this year, as I was driving back to Minnesota from a conference in Texas¹, I decided to veer off the freeway and visit Lane, Kansas (pop. 241). After taking wrong turns down almost every one of the village’s few streets, I finally found what I was looking for. Next to the sign for the Methodist church is a historical marker reporting that, “On th…